Module4WhichEnglishPartTwoTeachingResourcesSection1BackgroundReadings1.HistoricalLinguisticsThemodernfieldoflinguisticsdatesfromthebeginningofthe19thcentury.WhileancientIndiaandGreecehadaremarkablegrammaticaltradition,throughoutmostofhistorylinguisticshadbeentheprovinceofphilosophy,rhetoric,andliteraryanalysistotrytofigureouthowhumanlanguageworks.Butin1786,anamazingdiscoverywasmade:ThereareregularsoundcorrespondencesamongmanyofthelanguagesspokeninEurope,India,andPersia.Forexample,theEnglish‘f’soundoftencorrespondstoa‘p’soundin,amongothers,LatinandSanskrit,animportantancientlanguageofIndia:ENGLISHLATINSANSKRITfatherpaterpitarfullplenuspurnasforperpariScholarsrealizedthatthesecorrespondences--foundinthousandsofwords--couldnotbeduetochanceortomutualinfluence.Theonlyreliableconclusionwasthattheselanguagesarerelatedtooneanotherbecausetheycomefromacommonancestor.Muchof19thcenturylinguisticswasdevotedtoworkingoutthenatureofthisparentlanguage,spokenabout6,000yearsago,aswellasthechangesbywhich‘Proto-Indo-European’,aswenowcallit,developedintoEnglish,Russian,Hindi,anditsothermoderndescendants.Thisprogramofhistoricallinguisticscontinuestoday.Linguistshavesucceededingroupingthe5,000orsolanguagesoftheworldintoanumberoflanguagefamiliessharingacommonancestor.2.TheStudyofLanguageStructureAtthebeginningofthe20thcentury,attentionshiftedtothefactthatnotonlylanguagechange,butlanguagestructureaswell,issystematicandgovernedbyregularrulesandprinciples.Theattentionoftheworld’slinguiststurnedmoreandmoretothestudyofgrammar--inthetechnicalsenseofthetermtheorganizationofthesoundsystemofalanguageandtheinternalstructureofitswordsandsentences.Bythe1920s,theprogramof‘structurallinguistics’,inspiredinlargepartbytheideasoftheSwisslinguistFerdinanddeSaussure,wasdevelopingsophisticatedmethodsofgrammaticalanalysis.Thisperiodalsosawanintensifiedscholarlystudyoflanguagesthathadneverbeenwrittendown.Ithadbythenbecomecommonplace,forexample,foranAmericanlinguisttospendseveralyearsworkingouttheintricaciesofthegrammarsofChippewa,Ojibwa,Apache,Mohawk,or用心爱心专心116号编辑someotherindigenouslanguageofNorthAmerica.Thelasthalf-centuryhasseenadeepeningofunderstandingoftheserulesandprinciplesandthegrowthofawidespreadconvictionthatdespitetheirseemingdiversity,allthelanguagesoftheworldarebasicallycutfromthesamecloth.Asgrammaticalanalysishasbecomedeeper,wehavefoundmorefundamentalcommonalitiesamongthelanguagesoftheworld.TheprograminitiatedbythelinguistNoamChomskyin1957seesthisfactasaconsequenceofthehumanbrainbeing‘prewired’forparticularpropertiesofgrammar,therebydrasticallylimitingthenumberofpossiblehumanlanguages.Theclaimsofthisprogramhavebeenthebasisforagreatdealofrecentlinguisticresearch,andhavebeenoneofthemostimportantcentersofcontroversyinthefield.Booksandjournalarticlesroutinelypresentevidencefororagainsttheideathatcentralpropertiesoflanguageareinnate.3.LanguageUse:StudiesofMeaningThereisalsoalongtraditioninthestudyofwhatitmeanstosaythatawordorsentencemeansaparticularthingandhowthesemeaningsareconveyedwhenwecommunicatewitheachother.TwopopularideasaboutwhatmeaningsaregobacktotheancientGreeks:Oneisthatmeaningsarementalrepresentationsofsomesort;anotheristhatthemeaningofanexpressionispurelyafunctionofhowitisused.Bothideashavelaunchedresearchprogramsthatareactivetoday.Theyhavebeenjoinedbyathirdapproach,building...
